Gods of tech distribution smile on Blighty in Q1

Double digit sales bounce recorded by beanie Context

Distributors in almost half of the countries across Western Europe failed to register sales growth during Q1 but those with ops in Blighty were not among them.

Sales out data from Context reveals UK market revenues climbed 12.4 per cent in the three months to €2.5bn, making it the largest sector in the region for the past four quarters.

The XP Factor again beefed up desktop sales, rising 32.5 per cent but printing consumables and computing components also chipped in, leaping 22.4 and 21.2 per cent respectively.

"Desktop sales in the UK like in other European countries, benefited strongly from late orders following the end of XP-support," said Context senior analyst Marie-Christine Pygott.

The software and licenses category also lifted UK numbers as revenues bounced 10.7 per cent. Server sales declined 7.2 per cent in the region, continuing the trend from 2013.

By contrast, Germany, the second largest market in the region grew just 4.5 per cent.

The beanie said "five sectors still languish in zero or negative growth", said Context. These included mobile computing, disk storage, printer supplies, networking systems and servers. The telco was the major growth space for wholesalers in Germany, up nearly 56 per cent year-on-year.

Only Spain bettered the UK distie growth average, up 15.1 per cent but that market fell faster and further than most in Europe during the recession. Italy, France, Poland and Sweden all reported expanding waistlines.

However distributors in Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland and Norway were left crying in their warehouses at a slower start to 2014 than they'd have liked. ®